7. THE CLENCHED In the Clenched principle of gesture the fingers are bound together by the thumb into a solid mass (see Figs. 17 and 18). Its significance is universally understood. All grades of civilization know that the Clenched fist signifies preparation for physical conflict, the enforcement of strong passion, determi FIG. 17. HAND CLENCHED FIG. 18. HANDS CLENCHED nation, or force of will. It is man's weapon of attack, and therefore responds most fully to the Vital nature. It is used in sentiments dominated by great physical energy, such as courage, defiance, hate, anger, and revenge. It is much used by the orator when he desires to enforce a thought with great vigor. Sentences illustrating the Clenched : (1) If I can catch him once upon the hip, I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. - Shakespeare. (2) I will have the heart of him, if he forfeit. Shakespeare. (3) Whether he be a privy councilor or a parasite my answer would be a blow. - Grattan. (4) Now let it work. Mischief, thou art a foot, take thou what course thou wilt. - Shakespeare. All the above principles are used in dramatic action, but the orator in public address seldom uses more than four of them, the Supine, the Prone, the Index, and the Clenched. Selection illustrating the Principles of Gesture. NOTE. The student should analyze the following selection, determine from the foregoing discussion the principles of gesture to be employed, and apply them to delivery. CAUGHT IN THE QUICKSAND VICTOR HUGO It sometimes happens that a man, traveler or fisherman, walking on the beach at low tide, far from the bank, suddenly notices that for several minutes he has been walking with some difficulty. The strand beneath his feet is like pitch; his soles stick in it; it is sand no longer; it is glue. The beach is perfectly dry, but at every step he takes, as soon as he lifts his foot, the print which it leaves fills with water. The eye, however, has noticed no change; the immense strand is smooth and tranquil; all the sand has the same appearance ; nothing distinguishes the surface which is solid from that which is no longer so; the joyous little crowd of sand flies continue to leap tumultuously over the wayfarer's feet. The man pursues his way, goes forward, inclines to the land, endeavors to get nearer the upland. He is not anxious. Anxious about what? Only he feels, somehow, as if the weight of his feet increases with every step he takes. Suddenly he sinks in. He sinks in two or three inches. Decidedly he is not on the right road; he stops to take his bearings; now he looks at his feet. They have disappeared. The sand covers them. He draws them out of the sand; he will retrace his steps. He turns back, he sinks in deeper. The sand comes up to his ankles; he pulls himself out and throws himself to the left the sand half-leg deep. He throws himself to the right; the sand comes up to his knees. Then he recognizes with unspeakable terror that he is caught in the quicksand, and that he has beneath him the terrible medium in which man can no more walk than the fish can swim. He throws off his load if he has one, lightens himself as a ship in distress; it is already too late. He calls, he waves his hat or his handkerchief; the sand gains on him more and more. He feels that he is being swallowed up. He howls, implores, cries to the clouds, despairs. Behold him waist deep in the sand. The sand reaches his breast; he is now only a bust. He raises his arms, utters furious groans, clutches the beach with his nails, would hold by that straw, leans upon his elbows to pull himself out of this soft sheath; sobs frenziedly; the sand rises; the sand reaches his shoulders; the sand reaches his neck; the face alone is visible now. The mouth cries, the sand fills it — silence. The eyes still gaze, the sand shuts them night. Now the forehead decreases, a little hair flutters above the sand; a hand comes to the surface of the beach, moves, and shakes, disappears. Sinister effacement of a man. SECTION IV. PLANES OF GESTURE There are three Planes of Gesture, (1) the Plane of Equality, (2) the Plane of the Superior, and (3) the Plane of the Inferior. The approximate angle occupied by each of these planes is shown in Fig. 19. Plane of Plane of Plane of FIG. 19 1. PLANE OF EQUALITY The Plane of Equality is the plane of direct address. Its range vertically is through an arc of about thirty degrees, with the shoulder as a center. It is the normal zone in which men deal with their fellow-men. Gestures of ordinary conversation, description, didactic thought, calm reasoning, ordinary public address, and direct appeal are in the Plane of Equality; in fact, most gestures occur in this plane. Sentences illustrating the Plane of Equality. (1) Within our territory stretching through many degrees of latitude and longitude we have the choice of many products and many means of independence. - Story. (2) Do we mean to submit to the measures of Parliament, Boston-Port Bill and all? — Webster. (3) Welcome, Icilius! Welcome, friends! — Knowles. - (4) Have I not cause enough for anger? - Halm. 2. PLANE OF THE SUPERIOR The Plane of the Superior is the plane of the ideal, of the imaginative and the poetic. It is called by some the elevated plane. Gestures range through an arc of forty or fifty degrees above the Plane of Equality. Sentiments of hope, beneficence, benediction, patriotism, triumph, liberty, and appeals to Heaven or Deity require gestures in the Plane of the Superior. Sentences illustrating the Plane of the Superior. (1) Some to the common pulpits and cry out "liberty, freedom and enfranchisement." Shakespeare. (2) "Good speed!" cried the watch as the gate-bolts undrew, "Speed," echoed the wall to us galloping through." -Browning. (3) Judge, O you gods, how dearly Cæsar loved him. (4) Forbid it, Almighty God!— Henry. -Shakespeare. 3. PLANE OF THE INFERIOR The Plane of the Inferior is the plane of the debasing. Its range is through an arc of forty to fifty degrees below the Plane of Equality. Gestures putting down the bad, the low, the vile, or the contemptible culminate in this plane. Malevolence, hate, revenge, gloom, despair, horror, and aversion are enforced by gestures that conclude in this plane. Sentences illustrating the Plane of the Inferior. (1) Out of my sight, thou demon of bad news. -Aldrich. (2) I'll force out his last drachma. O, I'll not rest until I've had revenge. - Halm. (3) O, what a rash and bloody deed is this! -Shakespeare. (4) Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the Duke.— Shakespeare. Selection illustrating the Planes of Gesture. NOTE. Analyze the following selection and apply gesture in accordance with the reasons set forth for the use of the different Planes. GALILEO EDWARD EVERETT There is much in every way in the city of Florence to excite the curiosity, kindle the imagination, and gratify the taste; but among all its fascinations, addressed to the sense, the memory, and the heart, there was none to which I more frequently gave a meditative hour during a year's residence, than to the spot where Galileo Galilei sleeps beneath the marble floor of Santa Croce; no building on which I gazed with greater reverence than I did upon that modest mansion of Arceti: villa once, and prison, in which that venerable sage, by the command of the Inquisition, passed the sad, closing years of his life. Of all the wonders of ancient and modern art, statues and paintings, jewels and manuscripts, the admiration and delight of ages, there is nothing I beheld with more affectionate awe than that poor little spyglass through which the human eye first pierced the |